Aviation CFO navigates the pre-revenue phase

“It feels terrible.” That pretty much sums up one CFO’s sentiment about leading finance at a pre-revenue company. The CFO is Brian Merker, finance chief of Ontario, Canada-based Horizon Aircraft.

Horizon is creating a hybrid electric plane with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) for short regional transportation of roughly 300 to 500 miles.

The company has raised $15 million CAD (over $11 million) in the last 12 months, and $30 million CAD since it was founded in 2013. Those 30 million Canadian dollars include a $6.7 million investment from Canso, a Canadian investment firm specializing in aircraft companies. Horizon also landed $2 million USD from the Initiative for Sustainable Aviation Technology (INSAT), a sustainable aviation fund run by the Canadian government. Horizon went public in 2024, according to Merker, so it could access capital markets.

“I generally don’t like spending money,” Merker told CFO Brew. “But I do believe in the product, and it becomes a mission to support the technical team.” That means Horizon needs to continue to hire people and order equipment and supplies. “Priority one is supporting the team in building the aircraft.”

Aviation expertise. “There aren’t that many” CFOs who know the ins and outs of aviation, Merker said. He was an accountant at​​ KPMG, then VP of finance at a sports media company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Next, he founded his own helicopter company and served as VP of finance for Discovery Air, a fighter jet company.

All that experience has given Merker an understanding of “the different strategic dimensions to how we’re building this product,” he said.

Horizon plans to focus exclusively on manufacturing, which differentiates it from competitors that, according to Merker, are attempting to develop this advanced technology as well as simultaneously train pilots, build facilities, operate flights, and market their products to customers. But by just manufacturing and selling to existing operators, Horizon is spending less. According to Merker, the company is “burning about $2.5 million per quarter,” and has about 18 months of runway.

“The first to market tend to spend a lot, and it’s a great idea in principle, but the second mover, as we are, will take that path, make it better, and spend less money getting there,” he said.

Follow the money. Merker is always keeping an eye on the company’s cash flow, for which right now there are only outflows, except for when Horizon raises capital. Merker is “constantly in fundraising mode”—telling the Horizon Aircraft story and looking for people who are serious about investing.

The company also anticipates a licensing play in the next year and a half for its patented “fan and wing technology” that enables the vertical takeoff and landing. This capability is particularly attractive to military and defense customers and could generate income, Merker said, while the bigger company ambition of selling the aircraft to operators has to wait until at least 2028.

“We have to carefully manage our working capital,” Merker said. “We have to continue to bring money in, and that is at the top of mind every day.”